From In Intellectu to In Praesentatione: Sketches, Classifying Categories and the Ontological Argument

We propose reading Anselm's "in the understanding" as grasp of a structured presentation whose intended reference remains unsettled. The reconstruction distinguishes a presentation, its admissible interpretations, an extracted field of manifestations, and representation of that field by a source. Candidate alignment supplies a further requirement: the designated candidate must exhibit the field being represented. A two-context example separates maximality, alignment, and representability, while a universal-element criterion makes alignment precise. Applied to perfect-being profiles and Gaunilo-style parody, the framework locates disputed assumptions in the greatness order, the interpretation of the profiles, and the extraction of manifestations. Modal reconstructions introduce additional commitments concerning possibility and necessity. Classifying environments organize these questions without independently settling their intended ontological interpretation. The result is an audit of representability-based reconstructions, with explicit limits on what mathematical sourcehood establishes about actual existence.